Denis Leary screens new film in Worcester

Friday

Nov 16, 2012 at 6:00 AMNov 16, 2012 at 11:06 PM

Firefighters filled Sullivan Auditorium at Worcester State University last night for a special screening of the documentary with the executive producer, Denis Leary, a Worcester native. The film depicts the horrors of firefighting in Detroit where there are 30,000 fire calls each year.

By Kim Ring TELEGRAM & GAZETTE STAFF

He was 20 years old when he got a job with the Detroit Fire Department 13 years ago.

Brendan Milewski was so young, the other guys called him Doogie after the television character who was a teenage doctor.

Eleven years later, he was retired, using a wheelchair and making his way around the country promoting a movie called “Burn.”

Firefighters filled Sullivan Auditorium at Worcester State University last night for a special screening of the documentary with the executive producer, Denis Leary, a Worcester native.

The film depicts the horrors of firefighting in Detroit where there are 30,000 fire calls each year.

Now retired, it is Firefighter David Parnell's voice that starts the film, “I wish my mind could forget what my eyes have seen in 32 years of firefighting.”

What they have seen is a city, once bustling with jobs, burning, one building at a time, to the ground.

“It's terrifying,” Detroit Firefighter David Miller said. He, too, plays a big part in the film.

“Every fire we have is a tragedy,” he said, adding that he won't raise his 6-year-old inside the city.

The film started when producers Brenna Sanchez, a Detroit native, and Tom Putnam, wondered after the 2008 death of a firefighter why anyone would put their lives on the line in Detroit fighting fires.

While Detroit seems like a faraway place with unusual problems when it comes to firefighting, Denis Leary warned that it is a “cautionary tale that applies to fire departments all over the country.”

Mr. Leary lost his cousin, Firefighter Jeremiah Lucey, and close friend Lt. Thomas Spencer in the Worcester Cold Storage and Warehouse building fire in December 1999.

Proceeds from the film will be donated to the Leary Firefighters' Foundation and used to purchase gear for the Detroit firefighters.

Budget cutbacks, the loss of jobs in the auto industry and “a sense of giving up,” are part of the problem, Firefighter Parnell said.

“There has to be a sense of pride, a sense of love for the city,” he said, adding that after retiring and the loss of his beloved wife while the film was being made, he has stayed in Detroit but he worries about his city.

Producers said they are pleased that so many firefighters turned out for the screening but the reality is that the movie should be seen by those outside the fire service.

“The general public should see it,” Hopedale Firefighter Paul Barry said.

For viewers last night, it was a painful experience watching footage of Firefighter Milewski struggling to get up and realizing he was paralyzed after a wall of bricks toppled over him.

He believes the film is important and is traveling with Firefighters Miller and Parnell to promote it in the hopes that those who see it realize fire departments need adequate funding, proper equipment and support.

The producers still need to raise money in their effort to get the film into movie theaters. They, too, believe it will help the public understand the job of a firefighter.

“The movie's the best thing we have going,” Firefighter Milewski said.

“But until we're able to get this thing to a broader audience it's not going to realize its full potential.”

Local firefighters said they're hoping city and town officials will take the opportunity to see the movie and realize that whether a fire is in Detroit, or Worcester or some small community with a volunteer department, it's all the same.